By The Light Of The Silvery Moon
by Worthfull1
Summary: We all know James and Lily had a romance for the record books. This is how it happened. Rated M for language, not smut. One-shot.


**Author's Note:** We all know James and Lily had a romance for the record books. This is my take on how it happened. Our full moon occurred on Friday, November 25, 1977. I realize this is too late for Valentine's Day, but let's pretend it's not ;) Honestly, I wanted to post this on Saturday, but my internet was down all weekend.

Thanks, Worthfull1

P.S. I own nothing, anything recognizable belongs to the lovely Ms. Rowling. I also don't own the song, _'By The Light Of The Silvery Moon'_.

* * *

**By The Light Of The Silvery Moon**

Closing her Arithmancy textbook, Lily Evans raised her arms above her head and stretched, feeling the muscles in her back tense and relax from being in the same hunched-over position since supper. After she'd finished eating, Lily had taken the opportunity to head back to the library for some study time before doing her last rounds and going to bed. Sighing, she packed her things and left the library, casting a lightening charm on her bag so she wouldn't feel the need to take it back to the Head's dorm before beginning her rounds.

Walking through the castle, Lily found that her thoughts were not on her N.E.W.T exams as she wanted them to be, but were instead drawn to the Head Boy, James Potter. He'd been acting strangely towards her since they'd come back to school in September and, despite now sharing a dorm with him, he hadn't accosted her once. She would have liked to believe that he'd grown up over the summer - what with losing his mother and all - but her long, painful history with him made her suspicious.

Was this simply a new ploy to try to make her go out with him? Truth be told, he'd really started behaving himself more last year and it wasn't so much that she still hated him as it was that she had no real reason to like him. She'd been so excited when she found out she'd been made Head Girl, but her world had nearly fallen apart when she'd read the rest of the letter and saw that James had been named Head Boy. She had expected Remus Lupin - intelligent, solid, polite Prefect Remus. Not reckless, pranking, arrogant James. It had shaken her. Especially when she remembered that the Heads no longer lived in the normal dorms, but shared a private one.

Lily had very nearly sent the badge back when she realized she'd have to live with James Potter. The boy who'd begun their relationship by pulling her hair in first year to get her attention, hexing her best friend at every opportunity in second year and by third year, was asking her to Hogsmeade every week - even when there was no Hogsmeade trip planned. The boy who, in fourth year, had somehow learned when her birthday was and sent her flowers and chocolate every day that week. In fifth year, he'd taken to asking her out every day, and following her around until she answered or hexed him (usually the latter). It wasn't until the end of fifth year that he'd finally started backing off.

That was a painful memory. It was the week after her falling out with her childhood best friend, Severus Snape, and she was still emotionally fragile. She'd been in the library, as usual, when James had shown up with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew in tow. It was obvious that Remus had dragged them there to try and get some homework done, but James and Sirius seemed to have other plans. While Remus busied himself with arranging his books, Sirius cast his eye towards a table full of Hufflepuff girls, winking and making them giggle. Clearly his mind was not on his potions essay.

James, meanwhile, had pulled out that stupid snitch that he'd nicked from the Quidditch locker room and began playing with it, while furtively casting looks Lily's way to see if she was watching him. The one time he caught her glaring at him, he'd smiled and ruffled his hair, making Lily roll her eyes and pray to Merlin he wouldn't come over to her table. Unfortunately, her prayer went unanswered and moments later she looked up and green eyes met hazel.

_"Evans," he'd greeted in what he clearly thought was a smooth, manly voice. "How are you on this lovely day?"_

_ She didn't answer, she only looked pointedly to the window that showed a grey, rainy, nasty day that nobody with eyes could ever call 'lovely'._

_ "Come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" James pressed on, unperturbed by her silence._

_ Lily continued her tactic of ignoring him._

_ "Oh, come on," he cajoled. "I did save you from the big, bad snake."_

_ That did it. Slamming her book shut, she thrust it back into her bag along with her half-finished essay and stood, drawing herself up to her full height. She glared at James with unshed tears in her eyes and felt a bit of pride at the way he took a small step back and his smile faltered ever so slightly._

_ "James Potter," she began, her voice deathly calm. "You saved me from __nothing__! You saw your favorite target for your bullying and went after him, not caring in the slightest who got hurt. You pushed and you pushed until he broke and, in the process, I lost my best and oldest friend. But I wouldn't expect you to care - or even understand. So no, Potter, I will not go out with you. Not this weekend, not next weekend, not ever. There is nothing you can say or do to fix the hell you have put me through, and I will thank you to never try, you cruel, heartless, horrible person. I hate you!" Her voice broke as she ended with a sob and ran from the library. _

Remus found her later at the top of the astronomy tower, away from everyone and everything. He put his arm around her shoulders and sat silently with her while she cried. When her tears dried up, he made her laugh by telling her that he'd punched James for her. He also said that James was sorry. This time, he knew he'd hurt her and he felt bad about it. Lily snorted and buried her face deeper into Remus' chest. It may have actually been true, too, because that's when things changed between them. James still acted like an arrogant prat, but he did it less often and he tried not to do it in front of her.

Things really started changing in sixth year, though. James continued to do the things he always did, but he was far less pushy about it - in fact, once or twice he even managed to be sweet to her instead of humiliating her. He sent her flowers for her birthday, but instead of having them follow her around all day, he charmed them to appear on her bedside table so she could admire them in private. He still asked her out at least once a week, but he did so by passing her a discreet note in class rather than dropping to one knee in the middle of the Great Hall at breakfast and declaring that he had a terminal illness and the only cure was that she go to Hogsmeade with him. Of course, she still set the notes on fire, but she had kept the roses. They were pretty and, better yet, they were _private_.

Over the summer, Lily had received an owl from Remus. He told her about spending a fair amount of the summer at the Potter's and that James' mother had passed. Dragonpox, he'd said. Incurable and quick, but not painless. How she'd contracted it was not known, but she had been volunteering at St. Mungo's and occasionally went into the Infectious Diseases Ward. The best they could figure was that she'd somehow come into contact with it there and, after that, all they could do was make her as comfortable as possible. Lily sent her condolences straight to James, bypassing Remus. It was the first time _she'd_ written to _him_, but she felt the circumstance called for it.

James hadn't replied, but when they met on the train back to school, he had taken her aside and thanked her for her letter. He'd looked terrible, even though he'd grown several inches and filled out some - it was obvious he'd had a rough time of it. After that, they had held the Head's meeting on the train and James had remained a gentleman the entire time, for which Lily was grateful. In truth, she had enough on her plate without having to worry about the Head Boy making trouble.

His good behavior continued as they moved into their new dorm. James had asked her to lay down the ground rules and when she questioned that, he'd grinned half-heartedly and said, "Well, you don't want _me_ making the rules, do you?". She'd laughed and agreed that that would end in disaster, to which he'd simply shrugged and levitated his trunk into his bedroom. Lily stared after him, momentarily at a loss, but snapped out of it and began moving her things into her own room. At the Welcome Feast that night, James had behaved as well, and even volunteered to show the first year's where to go before she could tell him to.

The last couple of months had gone the same way, although she did notice that James had started smiling again. It had taken a while, but Sirius finally came to the rescue, slipping something into the Slytherin's pumpkin juice at breakfast one morning that made them all start clucking like chickens. The Hall had erupted in laughter, and the spell had worn off after about five minutes, but it had done the trick. While Dumbledore asked for the culprit to show himself, Lily looked at James who was holding one hand in front of his face which had turned red from the exertion of trying not to laugh.

Now, it was almost December and while it had snowed earlier in the day, the night wasn't as frigid as Lily had expected it to be. It was cold, surely, but more crisp and clean rather than icy and bitter. As she finished her patrol, Lily headed up to her dorm and dropped off her books but instead of preparing for bed, she quickly grabbed her warmest coat and hat and headed out of the castle for a few minutes of fresh air. It was way past curfew by now, but Lily found she didn't much care. The night was too irresistible.

Stepping outside, she looked up. The moon was full and beautiful, but partially obscured by the North Tower of the castle, so she moved out onto the grounds to get a better view. Snow crunched beneath her feet and her breath came out in puffs of steam, but she needed to see that moon. Lily smiled as it came fully into view. She never knew why, but the moon always looked different to her in Scotland than it did in her hometown of Cokeworth. It may have been because they were so far north, but it didn't really matter. All that mattered was that it was there and it was beautiful.

Suddenly her moon gazing was interrupted, however, by a sound to her left. Looking that way, she couldn't see anything, but it shocked her a bit to find that she was within yards of the Forbidden Forest. She hadn't realized she'd wandered that far from the castle. Realizing in an instant the danger she'd unwittingly put herself in, Lily turned to head back to the castle, but she only got a few steps in before hearing footsteps behind her. She increased her pace, but so did her pursuer, so she stopped and whirled around, wand-in-hand, only to find a fully grown werewolf staring at her from the tree-line.

She watched as the creature sniffed the air and she heard the deep, rumbling growls coming from it's chest, but before it could take one more step in her direction, a huge black dog appeared out of the Forest and charged the creature, latching it's jaws into a hind leg and distracting it from Lily. Within seconds, a stag also appeared, using it's antlers to herd the beast back into the trees, the werewolf growling and snarling the whole way. Once it was out of sight, Lily let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and began trembling uncontrollably.

"Evans!" came a shout from behind her, and she spun around in alarm, coming face-to-face with James Potter. "What the fuck are you doing out here?!" he roared. "The night of the full moon and you're taking a stroll through the Forest?! Don't you know what lives in there?! For fuck's sake, how long have you been at this school?!"

Lily didn't answer him - she couldn't, she was still in shock, but she did notice that James seemed to be out of breath and not from yelling at her. She also noticed that he had a few twigs and leaves in his hair and that he wore no coat. _What on earth is __he__ doing out here?_ she thought.

"Get back inside _now_," James said, his voice more serious than Lily had ever thought possible, and she nodded immediately, but before she could make it to the steps of the castle, a high-pitched yelp was heard and the werewolf was again charging out of the Forest. "Oh, gods, no," she heard James say under his breath before he turned to her. "Please, Lily - get inside," he begged, giving her one devastated look, then taking off at a run towards the werewolf.

Lily's cry of terror died in her throat as she watched James suddenly leap into the air as a man and land on the ground as a stag. Not a moment too soon, either, as he collided with the creature, body-checking it before rearing up and pummeling it with his hooves. The werewolf finally took the hint and, with a pained cry at a particularly well-placed hoof to the chest, went loping back into the Forest. The stag watched it go, then turned back to Lily, gave a resigned sort of sigh and hung his head before following.

Frozen in shock, Lily stared after it, only moving when she heard a shuffling behind her. Gasping, she spun around for what felt like the millionth time that night to see the dog standing there, pawing at the ground and tossing his head towards the castle.

"Right," she said out loud, but not yet moving. Looking closer at the dog, she realized he had grey eyes. Steel grey eyes. The exact same colour of eyes that followed every decent pair of legs in the school, the same eyes that danced with mischief while the rest of the face attempted an innocent expression, the same eyes that crinkled when their owner barked with laughter.

_Barked_ with laughter... _Barked_...

"_Black_... ," Lily breathed, her brain finally putting two and two together.

The dog actually rolled his grey eyes before wagging his tail once and tossing his head again towards the castle. For emphasis, he trotted around behind Lily and head-butted her backside to get her moving. She snapped out of her shock with a startled yelp, but got going. Running up the steps, she opened the doors to the Front Hall and slipped inside, turning to look once more at the dog who had escorted her, only now noticing a gash on his shoulder. It didn't seem to bother him, however, as he nosed at the door to get her to close it.

Lily closed and locked the door, then headed up to her dorm in a haze. Her mind was going a million miles a minute, but none of it made sense. Potter and Black were animagi - most likely illegally - and keeping a werewolf company on the full moon. That's why Potter had asked to switch rounds with her tonight. They took turns doing Head's duties, and he'd promised he'd make it up to her. She'd agreed immediately since they'd been getting along so well all year, but she assumed it was because he'd wanted to catch up on some homework - not run through the Forbidden Forest with Black and a werewolf.

_A werewolf_... Lily stopped dead in her tracks in the middle of the deserted corridor as the pieces of the puzzle all came together at once. Two of the Marauders were animagi. The Marauders never did anything that didn't include all of them. James was the stag and Sirius was the dog. Remus was always sick around the full moon. Remus was the werewolf. Peter must have been there, too, even if she hadn't seen him. It all fit now.

James, Sirius and Peter were clearly keeping Remus company which meant that they'd become animagi for him which meant that they _knew _about his condition and accepted him. It took years to become an animagus which meant that they'd known about Remus for a long time and stuck by him which meant that they were loyal and selfless which meant that James Potter couldn't possibly be the arrogant toerag she'd always accused him of being!

"_Ooohhhh,_" Lily gasped, leaning against the wall for support as her world came crashing down around her.

It didn't bother her that Remus was a werewolf - she'd suspected as much since fourth year. It didn't bother her that the other three would do something as dangerous and potentially disastrous as becoming animagi - that sounded exactly like something they would do. What bothered her was that she couldn't understand why someone as noble and wonderful as James Potter would continually act the opposite with her! Why couldn't he show her that side of himself? Was he really that thick? Or, was it some sort of ridiculous reverse psychology and he never really wanted her in the first place; he just did that to drive her away? Why would he want to drive her away? Was he afraid that one day she would figure them out and report them? She wasn't a tattle-tale, was she? _Was she?!_

Lily took a few deep breaths and counted backwards from ten. This was stupid. Pushing herself off the wall, she purposefully strode to her dorm, walked into her bedroom, took her coat and hat off and began to pace. She needed to figure this out. She needed to be logical. She needed tea. Sitting down at her desk, she did something she'd never done before at school. She called for a house-elf.

"Head Miss called?" asked a tiny elf with the largest ears Lily had ever seen and eyes almost as green as her own.

"Yes, please," Lily said politely. "Would you bring me a pot of very strong tea?"

The elf bowed and snapped her fingers; a tea service appearing on Lily's work desk immediately. Lily thanked the elf and spent the rest of the night pacing and thinking and draining the teapot. When the first rays of dawn began to brighten her room, she realized how much time had passed. She also realized that at no point during the night had she heard James come back. Sitting down, she collected her thoughts. If James wasn't here, then he was probably back in the Gryffindor boys' dorm.

"Right," she said to herself as she headed to the shower, not giving herself time to talk herself out of what she needed to do. Or, what she _potentially _needed to do. Nothing was certain yet - she needed to talk to James and possibly Remus before making any rash decisions. Yes, she would go to the boys' dorm and find James.

She paused in the middle of washing her hair. She'd never been in the boys' dorm. Would James get the wrong idea? She'd certainly never hear the end of it from Black. No, this needed to be done, and if that meant swallowing some pride, then so be it. Lily raced through her normal morning routine and found herself rather glad that it was Saturday. The only thing that would make this situation worse was if she had to miss class to apologize to James Potter! If, of course, an apology needed to be made.

Drying her hair with her wand, Lily threw on some clothes, only pausing once to make sure her appearance wouldn't frighten anyone, and left her bedroom. Heading towards Gryffindor Tower, she tried not to think about what she was about to do. She passed few people on her way - it was the weekend after all - and gave the password to the Fat Lady to gain entrance. Luckily for her, there was nobody in the Common Room, so her ascent up the boys' stairs went unnoticed. Taking a very deep breath, she knocked on the door. Muffled voices could be heard in the room and the sound of laughter met Lily's ears just before the door opened to reveal a shirtless and grinning Sirius Black.

Lily's eyes went wide as she was suddenly confronted with Sirius Black's naked torso. Lean muscles, scant hair and a few tattoos had Lily finally understanding what most of the female population went crazy over him for. Unable to help herself, she followed the thin line of hair that headed south from his navel, but her eyes snapped back up to his face when she realized that his trousers were undone, as though he'd pulled them on just before opening the door. It seemed he hadn't noticed her blatant perusal, however, as she saw her deer-in-the-headlights expression mirrored on his face.

"Good morning, Sirius," she said, drawing up her Gryffindor courage.

He blinked at her. Not only was Lily Evans - good girl extraordinaire - standing in the doorway of the boys' dormitory, but she had also just greeted him civilly. _And_ used his first name.

"Good morning... Lily," he said, the name sounding somehow foreign. "Are you lost?"

"Er - no. I was wondering if James was up here and if so, could I have a word?" she asked, noticing a rather fresh-looking pink scar running down the curve of his shoulder.

Sirius stared at her for a moment longer, then stepped aside, allowing her to enter. Lily smiled at Peter who was sitting on his bed in the middle of tying his shoelace and he smiled back, albeit looking a bit confused. Moving into the room, she tried not to look displeased at the general messiness of the dorm. Clothes lay scattered about hap-hazardly, books sat piled on the floor instead of on the nightstands, and there was even a black lace bra hanging from one of the posts of what Lily assumed was Sirius' bed.

"Oi, Prongs!" Sirius shouted, walking past Lily and grabbing his shirt. "You've got a visitor!"

"Wha- ? Oh, fuck!" James exclaimed, poking his head around the bathroom door, then scurrying back in.

"Oh!" Lily gasped, turning around quickly to give the towel-clad James Potter a modicum of privacy. "I can, um... wait downstairs," she offered.

"No!" James answered, a little too quickly. "Just - ah, give me a moment," he said, reaching for the bag of clothes he'd brought up to the dorm before setting out the previous night. It had become a habit to clean up in his old dorm - that way they could asses and heal any injuries they may have gotten during the night.

"Yeah, Prongs - cover up there, would you? Let's not spoil the wedding night surprise," Sirius said, giving Lily a leer as he moved past her and left the room, Peter trailing behind him. Because she had her back turned, Lily didn't see James give Sirius the finger.

"So, um - I suppose you wanted to talk about last night," James said, starting the conversation. "You can turn around, by the way."

She turned around slowly, gathering what was left of her courage and looking James directly in the eye. "Yes... and no. I wanted to talk about Remus."

James' eyes became wary and guarded as he finished buttoning his shirt. "Remus? What about him?" he asked, his voice slightly rougher than he would have liked.

Lily sighed. "I think I have it all figured out. At least - I think I have _most_ of it figured out," she said, biting her lip. "I'd like to see him. I want to talk to him, but I didn't know how much he knew about what happened and I didn't want to just burst in on him while he's probably resting - "

"What do you want to see Remus about?" James cut her off. In all the time she'd known James Potter, Lily had never seen him look like this. His face was hard, his eyes wary and the tone of his voice was protective. It spooked her just a little bit, but she hadn't come to beat around the bush or be cowed into silence.

"I want to tell him that I'm still his friend even though I know he's a werewolf," she said bluntly, watching James flinch at the casual use of the 'w' word.

James took several breaths to calm himself down. Once Remus had transformed that morning, he'd felt he owed it to his friend to tell him what happened and, even though Lily hadn't seen Remus as Remus, she was the smartest girl he knew and he felt sure that she would figure it out. Remus, naturally, hadn't taken it well, but he'd been too exhausted to dwell on it for long. James honestly did not know what would happen if Lily were to visit him in the hospital wing, but they were friends and if Lily said that friendship was still on, it may make Remus feel better.

"Is he in the hospital wing?" Lily asked gently. James nodded. "Would it be alright if I visited?"

"I'm not sure," James said slowly. "He's very... sensitive, as I'm sure you can understand. He may not even be awake yet." He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his still-damp hair. "Yeah, I suppose. Go on."

Lily smiled slightly. "Thank you... James."

He couldn't help the look of astonishment at the use of his first name. "You're welcome, Lily," he breathed.

* * *

Lily choked back a small sob as she peeked around the curtains that separated Remus' bed from the rest of the hospital wing. He was still asleep, on his back with his face turned toward her and, loathe as she was to wake him, she knew his extra senses would pick up her presence before she could leave. Quietly, she slipped inside the curtain and took a seat on the chair beside the bed. As she made contact with the seat, however, Remus' eyes snapped open. Lily had never seen him this soon after the full moon, so she found it strange that his normal green eyes were currently streaked with amber. A remnant of the previous night's transformations.

The abnormal eye colour, though, was only one of the many signs of the rough night. Three long scratches stretched diagonally across his face and, if they were from his wolf, Lily knew they would never heal properly. He would have those scars for the rest of his life. Like Sirius and James, Remus was also shirtless, and she couldn't help looking at the scars that already littered his torso. In addition to the scars were several hoof-shaped bruises that Lily immediately felt guilty over. She'd seen James kicking Remus to keep him away from her. Mistaking the look of deep concern on her face for revulsion and fear, Remus turned his head away from her, unable to look at what he assumed was his now-former friend.

"Remus," Lily said softly.

"It's alright, Lily," he answered, not looking at her. "I understand - really, I - "

"Remus, it doesn't matter to me," she said quickly, seeing where he was headed. "We're still friends."

He turned back to her with tears in his eyes. "What? Why?" he breathed. "You know what I am, what I can do. I almost killed you last night - I'm a monster," he choked out.

"Of course you're not! You're Remus! _My_ Remus! My friend, my study partner! You're a wizard, a Prefect, a kind and gentle person - you are many things, Remus Lupin, but you are _not_ a monster!" Lily exclaimed, her green eyes blazing.

"But - "

"No buts! You didn't ask for your condition, and I will not allow you to push me away because _you_ think _I'm_ unable to handle this," she finished, looking at him as though daring him to argue. Remus was silent for a while.

"Really?" he asked quietly, still half-expecting her to hex him or run screaming.

"Really," Lily said firmly, placing her hand on top of his.

Remus stared at their joined hands, then looked up to find Lily staring at him. He smiled slightly and she returned it. Lily ended up spending the better part of the morning with Remus, telling him about the previous night, how she'd figured it all out and how she hadn't slept because of all the revelations. Remus confirmed the parts of the story that she was sure of but hadn't figured out how to prove. Yes, Sirius did transform into a large grim-like black dog and yes, Peter was there somewhere but she didn't see him because of his rodent form. Lily also confessed to needing to somehow make amends with James, but she still couldn't understand why he had always treated her the way he did.

"Well - like me, James is many things," Remus said cheekily, making Lily roll her eyes. "Just because he's a good guy doesn't mean he's not an idiot as well."

Lily snorted. "_That's_ no mystery, Remus."

"He really is in love with you, you know. Has been forever."

"Well, he's had a funny way of showing it!" she snapped. "Sorry," she added quietly.

"I know - but you don't really hate him anymore, do you?" Remus asked, knowing full well that they'd been getting along just fine since the start of the year because James had been practically crowing about it at every available opportunity.

"I suppose not," Lily answered slowly.

"Well, since we're still friends, may I ask a favor of you?" Remus asked, having an idea. Lily narrowed her eyes at him. "Go out with him, Lily. Please. Just once, and if you truly don't like him, then don't do it again. He's grown up a lot recently - he won't push the issue."

Lily pouted. She'd resisted this for so long, it would take a monumental effort on her part to change her opinion on this particular issue, and if Remus weren't sick in bed and giving her that persuasive look of his - the same one that always got her to look over his potions essays for him - she would most certainly have said no. Almost certainly. Probably. _Damn..._

* * *

"So, who's that one from, Pads?" James asked, eyeing a fresh hickey on the neck of a disheveled-looking Sirius Black as he sat down for lunch in the Great Hall. He and Sirius had spent the morning flying until a decidedly female voice called Sirius down from the air, but James hadn't been close enough to see the girl, so he didn't know if this was from a new conquest or one of Sirius' regulars.

Sirius shot him a cocky grin as he reached for a sandwich. "Marvelous Marlene," he answered, waggling his eyebrows.

James chuckled. Marlene and Sirius had been friends with benefits since the beginning of fifth year when Marlene had come back to school after the summer holidays having gone through a very lovely growth spurt. She'd caught Sirius' eye on the train, and he'd followed her around for weeks until she gave in. Unlike most of Sirius' playthings, she seemed happy to let it remain casual and they were somehow able to maintain a friendship even when they weren't shagging.

"Ah, Prongs?" Sirius said, getting James' attention. James looked at Sirius who nodded at something over his shoulder. Turning, he saw Lily standing behind him looking slightly apprehensive.

"Oh, hi Lily," he said, "how did - ah - this morning go for you?" he asked, hoping that she and Remus were going to be okay. A weight was lifted off his shoulders as she smiled.

"Just fine, James. I was, er - very successful in maintaining the status quo," she answered, not used to having to speak in code. Luckily, James understood.

"Good, good. Glad to hear that. Would you like to sit down?" James asked, getting up to offer her his spot.

"No, thank you," she said quickly. "I, um, wanted to ask you a question."

"Certainly. What can I do for you?" he asked, growing confused when she blushed and let out a breath of laughter at his words.

Lily opened and closed her mouth twice trying to get the words out. "James Potter," she began, only to stumble over her own tongue once again.

"Um, yes?" James said, now thoroughly bewildered. What could she possibly want to ask that was this hard?

She took a deep breath. "James Potter, would you go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?" she finally forced out, cursing Remus, James, herself and several deities as he stared at her in abject astonishment. His eyes went wide, his eyebrows nearly disappeared into his famously unruly mop of hair and his mouth hung slightly open. In fact, he was silent so long, she wondered if someone hadn't hexed him with a body-bind curse. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sirius flick his wand.

"What was that?" Peter hissed at Sirius.

"Cushioning charm on the floor," Sirius whispered back. "In case he goes arse-over-tip."

Peter nodded. "Good thinking."

Lily began to get concerned. "James - "

"Yes? Yes! I mean, yes," he said instantly, shaking himself. "Really?!"

"What the hell did you say to her this morning, James?" Peter asked, mystified.

"What the hell did _Moony_ say to her?" Sirius asked.

"Okay, um, good," Lily said. "Next weekend, then."

"Next weekend," James repeated, dazed. "Right."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Lily turned and walked back out of the Great Hall, whispers following her the entire way. She had rebuffed James Potter so many times and in so many ways, it was practically school legend, so this was bound to be _the_ gossip fodder for the foreseeable future. She found she didn't much care, though. Somehow, this felt right, but she'd be damned if she knew how or why.

* * *

"Lily Potter," James said wistfully, gazing down in wonder at the witch in the bridal gown dancing with him. "Mrs. James Potter... James and Lily Potter... that idiot Potter's wife, Lily... "

That made Lily laugh as she rolled her eyes at her now-husband's ramblings. He'd been like this since she'd said 'I do' and it didn't look like he was going to be getting over it anytime soon. Sighing, she laid her head on his shoulder and allowed him to lead her across the dance-floor. After their first date in Hogsmeade, it hadn't taken Lily long to find herself quite smitten with James Potter, and not long after that, she realized that she was, in fact, in love with him. Once he'd finally let her in and showed her the real person behind the bravado, the two had become inseparable, much to Sirius annoyance.

It turned out that he'd made James a bet in their fourth year that James couldn't convince Lily to go out with him while they were still in school, so when James won that bet, Sirius had to take the punishment, which was running naked through the Entrance Hall out to the Lake and throwing himself in. Lily could still remember the sheer number of students that had packed the Hall to see this feat and the look on McGonagall's face when Sirius climbed out of the Lake, buck naked and grinning, telling her it was Lily's fault for finally succumbing to James' charms. McGonagall had _not_ believed that, but she _had_ given Sirius a week's worth of detention for 'indecent exposure', to which he had replied _'Of course I'm indecent - I'm not going to be at my most impressive when I'm cold and wet, am I?'_.

Chuckling at the memory, Lily shook her head at her husband who had pulled back slightly to see what was funny. Looking over at Sirius, however, her giggles returned. The raven-haired animagus was currently forcing Remus to dance with him, and doing a horrible impression of a tango, complete with a rose between his teeth. James laughed at the sight as Remus smacked Sirius once again for getting too close.

"Lily?" James broke into her reverie.

"Hmm?" she said, closing her eyes and resting comfortably against him as he moved them around the room.

"I have to ask... what made you finally give in to me?"

Lily was quiet for a long moment as she considered how to answer that.

"I figured it out," she said finally, "by the light of the silvery moon."

* * *

**Author's Note:** For those of you reading my SB/OC fic, you may catch the reference to Sirius losing the bet to James from Chapter 8. Thanks for reading!

Thanks, Worthfull1


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